Yahoo open sources Mojito, a developer framework for any device

Yahoo is taking a big step toward helping developers write code that will work well on any device, whether it be for the web, mobile web or even native iOS, Android or other smartphone operating systems. To do so, it’s decided to open source Mojito, a JavaScript-based developer framework that allows developers to leverage both client- and server-side technologies to get the best performance out of any device.

Mojito is just one of the tools that the company has built internally as part of its Yahoo Cocktails program. But now it’s making Mojito available to all to play around with and improve upon.

The idea behind Mojito is that developers will be able to build JavaScript-based applications that can be run on a number of devices, and adapt to the unique problems of the mobile web — that is, low-powered devices with constrained and spiky network traffic. Rather than have to choose between building for the web, mobile web or native app frameworks, developers will be able to create hybrid apps that perform well in any of those situations.

It does that by giving developers the ability to blur the lines between building for client-based processing or server-based processing. Mojito apps can run on the client, using the device’s JavaScript engine, or it can run on the server via Node.js. That makes app development a little more flexible and modular than it previously had been.

To see the results, you can check out a number of Yahoo apps that leverage Mojito. Those include Yahoo! Livestand, a native app; Fantasy Finance, a Web site; and Fantasy Premier League Football, which is a mobile Web app. Or you can build your own, as Yahoo’s Mojito is now available on GitHub.